Speak
by Nena
Summary: At the end of one of her tours, Relena is given responsibility of watching over Heero on a plane ride back home after he is hurt during a mission. She speculates on what may have happened, and what needs to happen now.


Author's Note: I don't own Gundam Wing. Lots of sap here!

**Speak**

By: Nena

Heero was sleeping.

Relena watched silently from across the aisle of the plane. He was adjacent to her in the middle aisle, his head lying straight back against the seat – as if he was staring at the ceiling, but his eyes were closed. The tanned skin along his throat flexed as he swallowed in his sleep, his Adam's apple swaying for a moment up, and then down. She watched him, her eyes slit as she tried to look at him out of the corner of them without it seeming too obvious that she was. Not that anyone would notice. She and Heero were the only two on the place aside from the two pilots and attendants.

There was an angry purple bruise forming near his collar bone – the rest of the monstrous bleeding underneath the skin was hidden by his casual black t-shirt and jeans. She was certain he was covered in more of those ugly bruises. His left arm was set carefully in a sling and was currently resting atop the armrest, forgotten for the moment. He had, of course, refused painkillers until she begged him to take something. The sinking, blackening skin underneath his eyes was evidence to the lack of sleep and blood in his body. It was translucent there, as well as along his temples – there was a blue-green vein just visible underneath his skin.

Nobody would tell her what had happened to him.

He had been away on a covert operation for nearly a month. She had been doing a tour of speeches throughout Castilla Y Leon, the bases of which was a trade embargo meant to prohibit the mass distribution of a large new metal deposit found within the region, during his mission. She had just ended the tour in Avila when Preventor's whisked her away on a helicopter – causing quite a bit of a panic among security and press. She had arrived at the hospital in time to see him wheeled into the ICU, hooked up to way too many wires, surrounded by way too many surgeons. Wufei was standing outside of the room in a blood-stained standard-issue Preventor's uniform, a red hand-print smeared across the shoulder as if someone had been gripping his arm for support, but he didn't seem to be wounded. She learned later that the blood had been Heero's.

She knew it had to be something to do with her. She was always the reason he got hurt.

Heero Yuy was her best friend. There was no longer any denying it. Neither was there any denying of the fact that their relationship had never escalated beyond that. She supposed there had never been time…she also supposed there had never been enough courage on her part. The thought that he would deny her, unrequited as the love may have been, was harder to think of then to burn silently for him like this. Or, at least, she used to think that way.

His steady breathing was interrupted by a shudder that went through his body. His back arched for a moment as he let it pass, and then he sank deeper into the seat and let out a sigh, never opening his eyes. She watched as a drop of red landed on the navy blue carpet of the aisle. Confused, Relena sat up from her seat and reached over, pressing her fingers against his black t-shirt. Her hand came back covered in blood. The side of his black t-shirt was soaked in it, but the dark pigment had hidden it from her view. Panicking slightly, she lifted the side of his shirt to just above his ribcage. The bullet had grazed across his ribs, tearing at the skin and exposing the bone to the outside world. It hadn't penetrated past that, though, which she was thankful for – it was just bleeding. The doctors had stitched things up as best they could.

She reached under her seat and pulled out a medical kit they had given her for the trip back home. She couldn't help but get a little giddy when they told her Heero would be her responsibility on the way back home – as well as a little frightened. She pulled out a bandage and medical tape, as well as antiseptic ointment. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she swept her long blonde hair to the side and took a deep breath as she made her way over to him. She knelt down next to him and rolled his shirt up, revealing his strong torso – covered in bruises and scrapes. The large one near his collarbone ran the entire length of his left side, purple and angry. The sight of it caused her eyes to burn with tears. What could have done that to him without puncturing the skin?

She rested her left hand softly against his side and prayed for him under her breath as she began working. She placed the ointment and bandage against his skin as he slept and cleaned up as much as she could. The intercom overhead came on with a soft beep, one of the female attendants voice's announcing they would be arriving to their destination shortly. When she was finished, she stuck her tongue to the side of her mouth and focused in on the medical tape as she set the bandage in place, hoping that it would stick through Heero's philandering. Satisfied, she nodded to herself and shifted her weight to the other leg.

Heero was staring at her.

She flushed, uncontrollable as the reaction was, and looked away. His calloused hand touched hers softly and she jerked her head back up to stare back at him. His eyes were clouded – not fully free from the haze of prescription medication, but he was still Heero in there. He was giving her one of his rare smiles, a small one that barely showed the bottom of his straight, white teeth. He may as well have shut off any focus of mind she may have had before. When Heero smiled at her that way, she forgot everything. She forgot that her feet were going to sleep for crouching so long. She forgot her name. She forgot to breathe.

She could hardly see the color of his eyes for the reflection in them. They were shiny, watering a little from a combination of being exposed to air and Vicodin. She stared at her small reflection in them, the way her blonde hair seemed to cover everything, and smiled back at him. Some hidden longing exposed itself by her hand reaching out and grazing her thumb across his jaw. He watched her silently as she did it, his face blank now and his eyes a little clearer – and more focused on what was going on around him.

He coughed suddenly, his chest rising and falling enough to shake the bandage and sling around his arm. The only outward sign that it hurt was that Heero's eyes widened slightly, finally made aware of the things that were wrong with his body. He would never _show_ that it hurt, of course. He was just assessing his state of health – she could tell as he sorted it all out in his mind. He glanced down at himself for the first time and scowled at the sling around his arm.

"You scared me." She said softly, giving his hand – still holding hers – a squeeze. She moved to sit in his lap. Confusion flashed across his face for a moment, but only a moment. He licked his lips slowly, the medicine no doubt making him thirsty. She reached across the seat and grabbed her Styrofoam cup of water, pointing the bending straw in his direction and placing it in his mouth. He sucked it down quickly, some of it spilling out of the sides of his mouth and down his chin, dripping and disappearing into his black t-shirt. He was staring into her eyes the whole time, intense and hiding something away from her in the back of them. She pulled the cup away and wiped at the water running down his face. Her thumb swiped at his bottom lip and she paused there, transfixed, and Heero seemed to become suddenly more aware of something as well. He let out a breath, hot against her hand, and something clicked in the back of her mind.

She leaned forward and placed her lips softly against his, gripping both armrests on either side of him. His good arm reached forward and he placed his hand across the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him. His hand was hot – or maybe she was cold – she couldn't tell. He ran his fingers through her hair, starting at the base of her neck. She pulled away from his lips and ran her nose along his cheeks and jaw line, before settling them once again against his closed eyelids and planting small kisses all the way back down to his lips, and then down to his throat, and then down to his injured collarbone, where she stopped. She rested her head in the crook of his arm and breathed softly against the skin of his throat.

"Stay with me." She whispered, closing her eyes. A few minutes passed by as he stroked her back and she was asleep in his arms. Heero glanced down at her face and watched her silently. He never spoke, but there was a moment when his eyes filled with emotion – something gripping and overtaking him. His arms tightened around her as some realization hit him, and he leaned in to kiss the top of her head and breathe in its scent as he stared off into the distance.

_Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself._  
_But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:_  
_To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night._  
_To know the pain of too much tenderness._  
_To be wounded by your own understanding of love;_  
_And to bleed willingly and joyfully._

- _The Prophet_, Kahlil Gibran


End file.
